Post-war Adjustments
by BitterMacarons
Summary: He may not have publicized it but Draco Malfoy has done a lot more for the wizarding community in the last seven years than the media thinks. Hermione might not have followed Harry and Ron into becoming an auror but if they've recommended Malfoy to McGonagall, they must have seen some change in him. Dramione, post-war, Hogwarts, DH compliant, EWE [Beta-read by Freebuckbeak]
1. Prologue: Traditions

**Prologue: Traditions**

"Hermione, you're an entire day early again."

"Professor!"

"Please, how long have we known each other _Miss Granger_? I really do insist that you call me Minerva more often, both of us teach here and you've been Head of Gryffindor for 4 years now."

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Hermione conceded, giving the headmistress a small smile. "I suppose it's just a bit easy to forget that I'm no longer a teenager standing by Harry's side." A teenager trying to solve one of the world's hardest problems at the time.

"I suppose it is." Minerva responded, giving her former pupil a smile. "And yet Hermione, here we are." Suddenly reminded of all that she still needed to prepare for the next day, McGonagall spoke a quick farewell before she was on her way, leaving Hermione alone in the entrance hall (which was just fine for the young witch). "Well, I'll leave you to it then. Welcome back."

* * *

"What do you want Potter?"

"Last Day Drinks?"

"It's barely after midday and you two want to take a day off of work for drinks?"

"It's tradition."

"Yeah, what Harry said – it's tradition and all that!"

"You mean it's a Gryffindor tradition for other Gryffindors?"

"No."

"Harry, you did it for Neville when he decided to marry Abbott then join Hogwarts."

"Yes but we also did it for Blaise when he decided he wanted to open up some fancy shop in Diagon Alley."

"So what do you say Malfoy? Drinks?"

"Alright, alright! Just remember though, you two won't be able to get any hangover potions off of me tomorrow."

"Shit!"


	2. Chapter 1: Re-introductions

**Chapter 1: Reintroductions**

It was almost surreal – the last time the Draco Malfoy had set foot in Hogwarts, it was 1998 and he was quietly completing his NEWTs (well, perhaps not so quietly) and the time prior to that, he was switching sides in a war that had rocked the entire United Kingdom's wizarding community. To think…to think that these people actually let him back in after he was cleared of his charges before the Wizengamot...to think that these people actually let him back in initially as a student and now once more as not only the Potions professor but also the head of Slytherin…it was just plain shocking. Well, perhaps it wasn't quite as shocking as what the public might believe (when of course it eventually got word to the press that an ex-death eater was going to be joining Hogwarts) but there was rather a lot of information that the press never received on the young blonde and thanks to some rather clever arrangements, they never would. Perhaps though, that was counter intuitive as the work that Malfoy had done over the past 7 years could only be described as essential and brave.

"That concludes the formalities." McGonagall's voice brought Draco out of his momentary lapse in concentration though he was certain that nobody (except perhaps Neville) picked up on it. "Now, please join me in congratulating Professor Longbottom on his new position as Head of Hufflepuff which he shall be undertaking in addition to his herbology duties." At that point, Neville stood up and gave the students a friendly wave as they cheered him on. "Please also join me in welcoming Professor Malfoy who is to take on Professor Slughorn's positions of Potions Master and Head of Slytherin."

Not surprisingly, there wasn't quite the same level of excitement when Draco stood up but then again, why would there have been? As far as nearly everyone in the entire school was aware, he was merely some ex-death eater who likely used his family's money (and what little influence they had left at the end of the war) to gain entry into a prestigious Alchemy program in Egypt 9 years ago. After a quick nod, the young man sat back down and with the conclusion of the headmistress's speech, the great hall descended once more into chatter.

"I take it you were sharing duties with Sprout after you left us?" The blonde asked nonchalantly between bites of precisely cut morsels of food.

"Not quite – I was teaching herbology as planned actually. Pomona had decided that was too much to take care of in addition to the head position." Came the reply a short while later

"Then she retired."

"Yeah. Started training me up last year."

"Well, congratulations."

"Thanks Malfoy." A light-hearted laugh followed shortly thereafter. "I'll be sure to write to the boys and tell them you've turned into an old softie."

"Oh come now Longbottom, surely you know by now that I have a reputation to protect. Communicate of any such thing and I'm sure I can revert to my schoolboy self." Draco's face might have remained as schooled into neutrality as ever but his tone suggested those words were ones of jest.

"Of course, of course, how could I forget?" A roll of the eyes accompanied the response followed by a whisper. "I take it you've finished then?"

"How could you indeed? Oh and yes, we did." Draco whispered in return.

"I can't believe it – after all these years…they're all gone…finally…"

"I can. We worked bloody hard with each and every case. I mean it you know – bloody hard because Merlin knows that Saint Potter always needs to go on every outing and Weasley is still rash."

"Well, I'm glad the job's done."

"The feeling is mutual. Now all I need to concern myself with is this job and the stupid, irresponsible children associated with it."

"You know, that sounded terribly similar to something Severus might have said."

This elicited a chuckle. "Perhaps not so bluntly."

"Perhaps not."

* * *

"Neville, could I speak to you for a moment after you've given your students the speech?"

"Yeah, of course Hermione, outside the great hall at say 9?"

"Sounds great, that'll give me plenty of time to outline which rules I expect the students to abide by."

* * *

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Hermione glanced around her surroundings for a moment before answering. "Malfoy. Did you know he'd be coming?"

"I…uh….I…I may recall something about it…"

"But Malfoy?"

"From what Minerva said, he was highly recommended by Harry and Ron."

That answer stunned Hermione. "By Harry and Ron? But I haven't heard them even mutter Malfoy's name in…years."

"Yes well that might be because you weren't a part of the team Granger." Draco drawled, coming down a set of stairs. "You know, I hear it can be rather rude to hold discussions about other people in the shadows."

Hermione soon recovered from her unprofessional squeak of shock. "I was merely curious Malfoy – after all, to some of us, it seemed like you all but disappeared."

"Well, that was part of the plan Granger but really, I'm touched that you care." By this point, there was an all too familiar smirk plastered on his face.

"Oh yes, I _clearly_ care." Hermione retorted, crossing her arms in the process.

"Well, if you didn't then you wouldn't have been interrogating poor Neville over here."

"I wasn't interrogating Neville!"

"Ah but you do care."

"No. I don't. I don't care Malfoy."

"Of course you don't Granger." With that, he turned to go back the way he came from. "But Granger, if you _don't_ care then you _won't_ write to Potter or Weasley. They won't be able to tell you anyway. Goodnight."

Technically, that last part was a stretch of the truth but whoever said stretching the truth wasn't something one couldn't do when entertaining oneself? Well, at least when it wouldn't result in death. The truth was that Harry and Ron wouldn't have been able to tell her or anybody outside of the team…if Draco himself was still with the team. Now that he had left, they were technically free to tell who they wished although his best bet would be that they'd tell their wives/girlfriends first to avoid any trouble.


	3. Chapter 2: Questions

**Chapter 2: Questions**

"Malfoy, might I have a word?" A rather cross looking Hermione asked her fellow professor once dinner ended.

"Don't tell me you've tried to contact Potter and Weasley already Granger?" Draco responded jokingly.

"No. I haven't Malfoy. You know why? I don't give a stuff." The truth was that she very much gave a stuff but by now, she'd had enough time to come to the conclusion that if the boys hadn't told her, they'd have done it for their safety and her safety and not simply because they didn't think that she'd accept them getting along with Malfoy or something stupid like that. "Actually, I wanted to ask you why you've given one of my fifth year students one week's worth of detentions."

The blonde quirked an eyebrow in response. "Why not ask the student himself? He knows perfectly well what he did to deserve it."

"Perhaps I'd like to hear it from the professor himself? After all, he _definitely_ knows perfectly well what my student might have done to deserve a week's worth of detention when it's still only the first week of school."

"Well I'm afraid that I cannot possibly discuss a serious matter like that in such an open place Professor Granger."

"Malfoy, are you taking the piss?"

For the first time in their entire conversation, Draco stifled a laugh. If she hadn't thought he was taking the piss before, she may as well have thought it now but the young man was very much serious on the matter. "Believe it or not, I'm completely serious."

"Fine. In that case, perhaps we can move our conversation to the staffroom?"

Silence filled the air as the two professors made the short trip down the hall to the staffroom where after waiting for Malfoy to enter, Hermione shut the door.

"Shutting the door Granger? I hope nobody gets the wrong idea." He smirked at her.

"Don't be daft Malfoy, you were the one who said this matter required privacy." She responded with furrowed brows. "Besides, if anybody got any ideas, it'd be that I finally decided to hex you."

That seemed to elicit a glint of something indescribable in his eyes. "Yes, of course. How could I forget?" Draco remarked dryly. "Next thing I know, I'm being carked off to Azkaban for presumably insulting or injuring the Golden Girl." Without giving her a chance to respond to the comment, the young man continued. "For your information, that student of yours has done nothing but try to disrupt my classes and insult me in whichever manner they feel they're entitled to. Before you start thinking I'm a fool, just know that yes, I did warn him then reprimand him _before_ I docked house points."

"How very dramatic of you – if the ministry carted people off to Azkaban every time they insulted me then they'd have caught a lot more people a lot sooner." She muttered, earning herself another look.

Before Hermione could move the topic of conversation back onto the student in question, Draco spoke sharply. "How very dramatic of me indeed but then again, the Malfoy you remember has always been rather dramatic, hasn't he? Still, I'm sure even _he_ knows that the ministry worked as hard as they could, as quickly as they could." She was about to open her mouth to say something else but he cut her off. "Now, if there aren't any more questions, might I be allowed to leave this room? I trust I shall see your student in the potions classroom at 8 from tomorrow evening onwards."

"Well with all due respect, what other Malfoy has there been to go off of? I didn't speak to the Malfoy that came back after the war and I certainly haven't heard much about the Malfoy who got himself accepted into Alchemy if one can even believe what the Prophet publishes these days." Unhappy with the way she handled that, a frustrated Hermione ran a hand through her messy pixie cut. "Wait. That was wrong. I'm sure that he and I both know that the ministry did the best it could after the war."

"Do you want to know something Granger?" Clearly, she hadn't voiced the right opinions because instead of continuing to walk by her so that he could get to the door, the blonde instead made a complete stop before spinning himself around so that he faced her. "It has been 10 years since that blasted war has ended and 9 years since we left this establishments as students. Did you not think that in those 9 years, people would be capable of creating new lives for themselves? Did you expect us to cling to our 17 year old images and try to remain as similar as possible?" As if on cue, she opened her mouth to say something and as if on cue, he put a hand up to silence her. "Contrary to popular belief Granger, it is entirely possible for someone to see the error in their ways and if you had taken a moment to get off your high horse to see that, you'd have seen that McGonagall herself had no qualms with me and Neville (yes, Neville and not Longbottom) was perfectly friendly towards me. Why do you think that is? Goodnight Granger."

* * *

"How did it go Harry?" A very familiar red-headed auror asked, closing the door to Harry's office after entering.

"Actually Ron – surprisingly well but Merlin, your sister is a very scary woman when she wants to be." Harry responded to his friend after finishing the last of the paperwork for the case they had just closed.

"What did she say?"

"Oh just that I was extremely lucky that the kids were staying with their grandparents…and that if I ever withheld information like that from her for years that she'd Bat Bogey hex me every day until the next century started."

"Oh. Well you did tell her that it was Malfoy's idea…right?"

"Yeah. She still wasn't very happy but she said that she was surprised that he cared enough to do what he did."

"Yeah well we were all surprised. Don't go telling him about this either but I think after what happened, his ideas were bloody brilliant."

"Well, we wouldn't want his ego growing even larger but I think you're right Ron – it was."

"I still can't believe you didn't manage to convince him to stay."

"He didn't want to. I tried. Multiple times. Believe me Ron, I tried but you know him – doesn't need the money, doesn't want the fame. Anyway, how did it go with Lav?"

The redhead went rather quiet after the question was asked. "Actually, we broke up."

"Again?" Harry asked in disbelief. "I thought the two of you had only just gotten back together before we took on that last case?"

"Yeah well she didn't appreciate being lied to and apparently the truth wasn't so great either." He mumbled. "Besides, I think it might just be time to stop trying. We've broken up and gotten back together 5 times in the last year alone Harry – and that's after already going at it for 2 years."

"I don't know what to say, mate. I guess it just isn't meant to be with her."

"Guess not." There was a long pause after that. "Harry…what do you think Hermione will say?"

"To you and Lavender being broken up? Probably nothing or maybe at most 'Oh Ronald, you've said that the past 6 times and yet you still keep finding each other'. Why? You don't honestly think she'd be happy right? Or that she might have been jealous? Because if that's the case…"

"No. Harry. Not that. Merlin! Hermione and I tried to make it work the first year after the war and it was just weird – like dating your sister. Why would my break-up with Lav affect her now, after all these years?"

"Alright, alright! Just making sure mate!" Harry held his hands up in defence as Ron pulled a face at the thought (where truth be told, Hermione would likely have pulled a very similar face if she were beside them as that was a year that the duo liked to ignore). "Then what? You mean what Hermione might say if she found out about Malfoy?"

"Do you think she'll hex us?"

"You know…maybe we should wait a while longer before telling her. After all…she just met him again after 9 years…"

* * *

It was the next evening when Hermione saw or heard from Malfoy again and if she were being completely honest, she was feeling a little undeserving of the title of brightest witch of her age. No, Malfoy wasn't a shining example of the perfect wizard but he had been right when he questioned her Friday evening. Why didn't McGonagall mind him? Why was he a friend of Neville's? Hell, why did Harry and Ron recommend him? It must have been because he wasn't the snooty, little bully that she'd known and thought of him as all this time. After all, some witches and wizards could be bought by money (Merlin knew the Malfoys had more than enough of that) and some could be bought by power but Minerva, Neville, Harry and Ron couldn't. Therefore it could only be concluded that whilst he wasn't the nicest, friendliest teacher by far – he can't have been all that bad if he were let in in this new world.

"Granger," Draco had walked into her open office, very much fighting the habit of using _colovaria_ as he did so. "Please inform your student Mr. Hall that his attendance at detention is very much mandatory and that any further absences will result in a 50 point penalty per day."

"Malfoy wait." She got up out of her chair as he turned to leave. "I'd like to apologise. For yesterday." This seemed to stop him in his tracks and he tilted his head ever so slightly in response. "Look I thought about what you said and I may have been a little…guarded. If Minerva gave you the position then she must trust you with it – just as Harry and Ron trust you enough to recommend you."

If he were surprised (which he was just a little) then Draco certainly didn't show it. "Apology accepted Granger." Now maybe it was her turn to be surprised. "I should apologise as well – you're not the first to have the thoughts Granger and you certainly won't be the last so I'm sorry for my ungentlemanly behaviour when I went off my rocker at you yesterday."

Just like that, he was gone and Hermione was left to her marking, fretting about Jasper Hall and more importantly, to the new concept of a genuinely sorry Malfoy.


	4. Chapter 3: Discussions

**Chapter 3: Discussions**

"Ah Mister Hall, I was beginning to wonder how many house points Professor Granger was willing to lose before she tracked you down and forced you to join me for detention." Draco addressed the rather angry looking young boy before him.

"I don't think house points matter when you're trying to _avoid_ death eaters." The boy with the curly, golden blonde hair remarked with as much attitude as he could muster.

Perhaps to Jasper's surprise, the professor didn't do very much at all in response to the comment – in fact, Professor Malfoy didn't even twitch. "Ex-death eater."

"Yeah sure. That's what kept you out of Azkaban, right _professor?_ "

"Yes. On both counts Mister Hall. I was an ex-death eater and my rejection of the regime is what ultimately saved me."

"Yeah well I bet you're only an ex-death eater because You-know-who is dead."

At this point, Draco simply raised an eyebrow at the young man. "You know, some soldiers are more than capable of their own thoughts following the demise of their leader. That said, I turned my back on Voldemort (you have the misplaced courage to call me all things under the sun Mister Hall so don't you shy away from calling him by that or even by Tom Riddle) before his fall." Instead of continuing down that path of discussion, Draco extended his left hand (continued to stir the cauldron that was currently bubbling away on his desk with his right) and pointed to the cupboard in the corner of the room. "Now to begin the detention – please open up that cupboard and take out the following ingredients: Salamander blood, lionfish spines, flobberworm mucus and honeywater. Don't even think of picking up different ingredients Mister Hall – the Wiggenweld potion that's to be made next is for Madam Pomfrey." Not unsurprisingly, the short boy made no attempts to move from his position by the door. "Now Mister Hall."

"I hate you."

"You wouldn't be the only one."

"I hate the lot of you and you're all as bad as each other, no matter what you try and say to justify yourselves."

"We very well may be Mister Hall but let me tell you something – you can hate me all you want, you can hate the death eaters all you want and you can certainly hate Voldemort all you want but how will that help you? It's clear that you're angry and to be perfectly blunt Mister Hall, I don't know exactly who did exactly what to you or somebody that you know."

"'Course you and your _friends_ wouldn't know. You wouldn't care either. The lot of you deserve worse than Azkaban."

"I'm sure you're quite right Mister Hall – a lot of people at the time wouldn't have known or cared and they sure as hell deserve worse than Azkaban but tell me, what are you going to do? Are you going to _Avada_ me? Are you going to _Avada_ the lot of them? I can tell you right now that it'd only make you just as bad as we are if you did."

"So what? You'd all be gone."

"Yes, we'd be gone but so too would your soul and then you'd really be no better than Voldemort."

"Then what? I'm supposed to just stand here and do nothing?"

"No, Mister Hall. That isn't what I said. You can hate me all you want. You can hate every last death eater (including those of us who defected) all you bloody want but channel that hatred into something better. By getting an education, you're already becoming a stronger, more controlled wizard, don't go and throw your life away for the sake of getting even. Become a potioneer and create cures to uncommon maladies or become an auror and bring the evil wizards to justice the right way. Hell, you could even work as a healer and save people around the world or work in magical law and truly create a motion which will see justice served. Who knows, you might even become the next Minister of Magic. That. That is how you become a better man than we could ever hope to be."

A lengthy pause ensued then ever so slowly, Jasper made his way towards the cupboard and collected the ingredients.

* * *

Detention with Jasper had been uneventful the rest of that week and although the Draco knew very well that the young man didn't hate him any less now that they were a month and a half into the school year than he did when they first started, he was secretly quite happy with how Jasper had changed in response. Sure, the kid was still insulting him but at the very least, he was applying himself. In fact, just last lesson, Draco had asked three ingredient specific questions and Jasper had put his hand up to answer each time (even if the answer each time started with something along the lines of 'since you know so little _Professor_ Malfoy…').

"Oi Malfoy, what did you do to the poor kid?" Neville asked during the lunch break in the staff room.

"Oh nothing – just the good old _imperius_ trick." A smirk quickly formed on his face when he saw the shocked faces that Neville and Hermione had. "I swear, Gryffindors are too easy to wind up. What do you think? I talked to him."

"Talked to him about what? How you'll break his arm if he doesn't behave?" Neville quipped in jest.

"Why settle for something so simple when I've got so many potions lying around, waiting for a test subject?"

"Neville, Malfoy, that isn't funny." Hermione herself looked less than impressed.

"Isn't it Granger? I thought it was hilarious – should've seen his face when I said I've got plenty of stuff up my sleeve which can turn him purple for a week or longer." Hearing that caused Neville to burst into laughter, causing a smug look to grace Draco's face.

"You will _not_ turn my student purple."

"Not a fan? How about blue then?" Draco asked and Hermione's brows furrowed.

"No."

"Oh I know (Neville, I'm sure you'll love this one), I'll turn him Slytherin green for a month."

The laughter in the background grew louder and Hermione pulled a face before speaking seriously. "Well, whatever talk you've had with him, he's working harder than before. Yesterday, one of the prefects informed me that he wasn't in the tower at curfew so the three of us went searching. We found him in the library and all that he would tell us was that he was studying and lost track of time."

"Hermione, students say that all the time." Neville commented once the laughter died down.

"Yes Neville but I think he meant it – there was parchment everywhere and they all had writing on them."

"Maybe he's just trying to mimic the queen of studying herself then?"

"Sod off Malfoy, I was _not_ the queen of studying."

"Well good to know Granger but I never named anyone." Draco smirked at an annoyed Hermione. "But since lunch is over, I think I will sod off – some of us still have classes to teach you know."

"Honestly, if I'm the queen of studying then what was he?" Hermione asked Neville once Draco had left.

"Based on how much he knew by the time we got reacquainted with him? Probably the king of pretending to slack off."

* * *

"Ron, it's been a month and a half since the school term started – it's almost Halloween, we should tell her."

"Harry, it's almost Halloween. Surely there are plans to celebrate at Hogwarts, we should wait until afterwards."

"She'll only be madder if we wait longer you know."

"Yeah well if she's going to hex our heads off now, what difference is a little bloody longer going to make?"

"What if the difference is how long she takes to do it and how painful she makes it?"

"It'll probably be long and painful either way Harry and instead of us getting any last words in, Hermione will probably give us a lecture."

"Then we can die knowing that we at least tried."

* * *

There were two days to go until the Halloween feast when Hermione was 'pleasantly' surprised by Harry's head appearing in her fireplace.

"Have you got a moment to talk Hermione?"

"For one of my best friends? Of course, I have a moment to talk."

"In that case, could you let Ron and me through?"

"So it's something serious then."

"Yeah, it's something serious."

A moment later, Harry stepped out of the floo (brushing off the soot as he did so) followed closely by Ron.

"What's the matter? Did something happen?" Hermione asked worriedly after she had given each man a hug.

"Nothing's happening." Harry responded carefully.

"So that means something already happened?"

"Mione, how's working with Malfoy?" Ron tried a different approach.

"Not bad surprisingly – it wasn't too easy to begin with but that might have been more so my fault. Mostly though, we acknowledge each other and engage in conversation sometimes if other professors are there or if we need something from one another. So whatever's already happened has something to do with Malfoy?"

"Oh bloody hell Harry, just tell her."

"Oi! I thought we agreed to tell her together?"

"How about you stop referring to said her as if she weren't right here listening to the two of you then?" A disgruntled Hermione interjected, motioning for the three of them to move towards the seats near her desk.

"Sorry Mione." Harry apologised first after they all sat.

"Yeah, sorry Mione." Ron repeated soon after. "Now tell her Harry."

"Well, as _we_ were saying, we really need to tell you something and we need you to know that we would've told you sooner if we could have."

"We were under _the vow_ Mione, promise."

"You mean to tell me you aren't under the vow anymore? I assume this has all got something to do with Malfoy? He mentioned something about you two not being able to tell me though on the first night so I just assumed it was something related to safety. If you aren't under the vow anymore then it must be safe to talk about it right?"

"I'd forgotten how scary you could be at times Mione." Ron muttered in response.

"Right. Listen Hermione, we've worked with Malfoy for the past 7 years. The only reason we're allowed to talk about it now is because what needed to be done _has_ been done." Harry was the first to explain.

"We honestly thought that Kingsley had gone off his rocker at first but as it turns out, Malfoy was a lifesaver. Literally. More than once." Ron added quickly. "Don't suppose you have a pensieve on you? It might make things a bit easier."

[[Note: I swear, I'll reveal it in the next chapter!]]


	5. Chapter 4: Malfoy

**Chapter 4: Malfoy**

"Ron, all three of us know that there are dangers to using a pensieve – especially when it comes to privacy."

"I know Mione but it'd make it a lot easier to explain. Besides, we all know that if we left our memories with you, nobody else would be able to find it for centuries."

"Harry, surely you don't agree with him?" Hermione's question seemed to fall on deaf ears though for Harry once again had a blank look on his face. It wasn't that he had stopped listening and it wasn't that he hadn't understood what they were talking about. No, instead the boy-who-lived had the same look upon his face as he had had many a time before when memories thrust out at him. Instead, Harry had been reminded of what he had done in fifth year…when he had viewed a memory from Snape's very own pensieve. Severus Snape had directed his hurt feelings towards Lily Evans when she defended him against James Potter (who in those days was very much the schoolyard bully)…it was his biggest regret just as the viewing of the memory was one of Harry's biggest regrets.

"Harry. Harry. Harry." Ron repeated.

"We're not using the pensieve." Harry stated resolutely after finally snapping out of his trance. "It'd be too dangerous if something were to happen."

"Thank you. Now how about the two of you tell me the normal way?"

"You see, it started 3 years after the war. Lucius Malfoy had done as he promised and given us the names of all the death eaters he knew in order to avoid Azkaban." Ron started to explain. "On the list were people were had never even known about and people that we wish we hadn't known about but the orders were clear – we needed to capture every last one and bring them to justice before the Wizengamot."

"I suppose what we hadn't accounted for was that those death eaters would go into deep hiding, sometimes taking along family members who were also part of the regime…or at least part of it enough to warrant a conviction. Pretty soon, it had turned into months of tracking only for our aurors to be hurt (or worse) in battle." Harry continued. "It was at that point that we thought Lucius might have been lying to us, setting us up to fail so that the cause he believed so much in could continue."

"We tried to threaten him with a sentence. '20 years in Azkaban if you don't start talking' we said to him. But he didn't crack. In fact, he scoffed at us – can you believe that Hermione?" Ron spoke next, almost as if he and Harry had planned their turn-taking way of explaining things. "He scoffed at us then reminded us that he had been nothing but helpful then _dared_ us to use veritaserum or a legilimens on him."

"We didn't do it by the way, not at first. Not until about a month after that when during one of our missions, we got into a wand fight with a few of the death eaters…there were casualties on both sides. Initially, we thought Lucius had been tipping them off and given what he had said a month prior, we thought 'why not? We've got his permission so let's prove it once and for all'."

"Turns out old Malfoy was telling the truth."

"Anyway, after that mission, we were in need of a potioneer or two so Kingsley started scouting around I suppose. We were greeted by Malfoy and Zabini soon after."

"The rest of us half thought that Kingsley had been under the _imperius_."

"He wasn't though. The first few months were tough and you know Malfoy – he's certainly not the easiest wizard to work with, especially given our history. I guess that's why we got close to Zabini really – he was a lot nicer to deal with."

"Alright, so you're telling me that for 7 years, you neglected to mention that you've been working closely with some of the people we disliked most at Hogwarts. What else?" Hermione asked, trying to process the current lot of information she had been given.

"See that's the thing Hermione, after the first few months, things seemed to be picking up. The potions were well made and we seemed to be making headway on the arrests…" Ron spoke up first this time with Harry taking the next turn in continuation of their round robin style of recounting.

"About a year after we started working with Malfoy, things started happening and all of a sudden, it was like we were back to square one. It looked like the death eaters were one step ahead of us every time."

"Most of us thought that it was Malfoy or Zabini considering they were the ones who joined the latest and who actually knew people on the other side."

"Neither one of them denied it but to be honest, we were more worried about Malfoy than we were about Zabini because even after working together for a year, Malfoy was still hard to deal with at times."

"Anyway, we struggled for another year with more and more evidence pointing to a leak in the department…with more and more doubts raised as to whether it might have been Malfoy."

"Harry tried to be subtle about it once. All he got in response was 'sod off Potter, why the bloody hell would I be here if I weren't trying to help?'. Someone (we'll get to that later Mione) must have been listening to us because the next few missions weren't as hard."

"So we continue and by now, it's our second year working with Malfoy. Now Hermione, do you remember when the Prophet featured a story on Goyle Sr?" Harry asked.

"I think that must have been…5 years ago Harry. Something about Goyle being captured only after killing his own son…"

"Yeah well the Slytherins didn't that that well at all." Ron commented.

"Malfoy especially." Harry added. "He practically demanded to be let onto the missions after that. We tried to figure out if he just wanted revenge for losing a friend but he wouldn't say – all he would say was that everyone on the team and everyone who had hired him in the first place knew what he was bloody capable of so we should stop babying him and accept some real help when it presented itself. You know, in typical Malfoy fashion."

"Eventually the prick complained so much that the head of the department eventually just told all of us to 'get over your silly little squabbles and focus on the problems at hand'."

"There were a couple of missions he went on. Nothing spectacular really – mostly just scouting missions with Zacharias Smith. Eventually though, we did need more people for the bigger, more dangerous missions and so he came with us."

"On the second mission in, we all got into a pretty huge wand fight and normally, I'd have been able to cover Harry (sorry mate) but I was already tied up (no Hermione, not literally thank you very much) with someone."

"Malfoy saved my life. You know how it is, what kind of curses those people fight with…if Malfoy hadn't used _flipendo_ on the death eater then I'd have been a goner although as it stood, that _flipendo_ was a bit of a fluke because the curse that came out of the death eater's wand ended up hitting one of his buddies."

"After that mission…well we weren't exactly friends with Malfoy but we certainly weren't back to the whole 'don't talk to me and I won't talk to you' thing (though mind you, Blaise was already hanging out with us more often). Because of what he did, the head of the department also suggested he go on more missions with us and that's what happened."

"Mission after mission, it seemed that sometimes we were making headway but other times, we were just following a dead lead. We never really worked out where the leak in information was coming from either until one day, Malfoy and Zabini stormed into the office with a petrified Zacharias."  
"Mione, do you remember him?"

"Vaguely. From the DA although I think he may have also taken up quidditch commentating after Lee left. He wasn't too nice from what I recall though but you said he was a part of the auror team?"

"Apparently he got the grades." Harry remarked.

"Yeah more like we found out later that he had barely scraped by and was almost kicked out during admissions because of his attitude." Ron scoffed.

"Point is, we don't know exactly how he got in but we know how he 'got out'. As we were saying, Malfoy and Zabini stormed into the office. I don't know how they found out (they sure as hell haven't told us over the years if that's what you're asking) but it turns out that Zacharias was our leak. Had been feeding the death eaters information because he thought Lucius should've gotten an Azkaban sentence and Blaise and Draco should've gotten the same instead of being allowed to join the team."

"After we sent him off to Azkaban, it was Malfoy who came up with a solution for the leak."

"The vow." Hermione stated. "But I don't understand, you basically never mentioned him before that either….there was another vow…wasn't there?"

"Yes the vow and no, there wasn't another one before. Malfoy had just negotiated the terms of his employment with Kingsley so that his name stayed out of anything public. Since Ron and I are so often left with little to no privacy, we thought that we'd keep our mouths shut."

"Yeah, what Harry said. Not that it matters, we were put under the vow soon after to ensure nobody on the team spoke any word of the team members or any other information relating to any cases and all that."

"That stopped the leak…but it didn't stop the wand fights and it certainly didn't stop the bloodshed."

"Malfoy had the bloody solution to that too. _Colovaria_."

"Thought that we could use it as both a warning system and a status reporting system out on the battle field but the first few times we tried it, it didn't really work – there just wasn't that much thought put into the codes."

"Eventually the bloody ferret developed a system: green for clear, yellow for alert, red for stop, blue for medical emergency, black for death and white for retreat. Only there were 2 problems. 1, we were just flinging the spell on whatever we felt like so sometimes we'd miss the signals and 2, we couldn't be sure who had cast the spell and whether they were on our side or not."

"It took more tinkering (with all of us pitching in at this point, probably one of the more helpful steps to all of us for being friends) but eventually, we decided that we'd all have different colours and we'd memorise every colour code and perform it on something which can be easy to spot. For example, if there was a gilded, golden painting frame, we might have turned one of the embellishments green and then added a small touch of one of our personal colours – that way even if we were imperiused, it wouldn't have quite the same effect as an original."

"Couldn't the death eaters have used legilimency though?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure they could've had anyone strong enough to break through occlumency trained aurors though, at least not in 1 wand fight." Harry responded.

"I suppose not." Hermione conceded. "So then the system kept on working over the years…and I guess if Malfoy is here now and you're not under the vow any more…it can only mean that you all won."

"Azkaban. All the ones who didn't die, that's where they got sent." Ron answered.

There was silence amongst the three friends. "Please don't hex us Hermione." Ron spoke, breaking the tension. "We really couldn't tell you until now."

"Sorry, could the two of you leave me alone for a while? I think I need some time to take in all the information." Hermione replied, trying her best to give her two best friends an encouraging smile. "I promise I'll send a howler before I do any hexing."

[[Sincere apologies for the spelling error made in Zabini's name in the previously uploaded version.]]


	6. Chapter 5: Friends of Friends

**Chapter 5: Friends of Friends**

Halloween had come and gone. Bonfire night had come and gone. In fact, it was the end of November before Hermione contacted Harry and Ron. Having not been seen in public together for almost half a year, the three reluctantly agreed that they should be spotted doing a bit of Christmas shopping over the weekend during the school's Hogsmeade trip.

"Let me guess, you've already bought this year's Christmas presents?" Ron asked, trying his best to ignore the camera flashes and question-loaded reporters as they strolled down High Street.

"I bought them over the summer holidays actually. Mum and dad helped me choose some before they went off on their trip." She replied casually. "Let me guess, you haven't started your Christmas shopping yet?"

"Actually, I've finished. Lav made me start early this year."

Instinctively, Hermione wanted to ask Ron about what seemed like the umpteenth time he broke up and reunited with Lavender but she bit her tongue – that was something which could wait until they got back into the castle. "How about you Harry? Any shopping to do?"

"A few presents left actually." Harry remarked, steering the trio into Honeydukes (earning all three of them even more stares and gasps of excitement). "Sorry, James has grown really fond of Chocoballs lately and I promised him (and Ginny) that I'd get some."

Before long, they had left Honeydukes (with far more sweets than they had intended, mostly bought for them by other people or given to them by the owners of the store) and had begun the actual Christmas shopping. Harry had gotten something for Ginny at Gladrags Wizardwear before popping into Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes to purchase something for the children.

By the time the children of Hogwarts needed to return to the school, Harry, Ron and Hermione had had quite enough of the constant tailing and questioning so they returned as well and headed straight for her office.

"Remember Mione, you said that you'd send a howler before you do any hexing." Harry remarked. "And I've still got children who want their Christmas presents given by a wart-free dad."

"Oh would you two stop it? I'm not going to hex either of you." She responded irritably. "I'm just annoyed and a little hurt that my two best friends waited so long to tell me. Before you get started, no, I'm not talking about the period when you were under the vow – I'm talking about the time you had before and after to tell me instead of waiting almost 2 months (possibly more considering who knows _when_ Malfoy even started applying for the job)." Hermione sighed as Harry and Ron shifted uncomfortably. "Who else knows about this?"

"What?" Came Ron's immediate, not quite thought out question in response.

"Who else have you two told?"

"Ginny knows." Harry piped up.

"So does Lav. Actually, she broke it off after she first found out." Ron followed.

"I assume she's okay with it now?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, we're going to try and have 1 last go at it."

"Well I hope it works for you mate." Harry commented. "You've said that the past 3 times."

"Yeah, I hope it works too…otherwise, I think that's it."

"How did Ginny take it Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Oh. Not too badly I suppose…if by not too badly you mean that she only threatened to hex me into the next century instead of actually hexing me into the next century."

"Well it's not like you can blame her – hiding something like that from people for 7 years is pretty significant."

"I know…"

* * *

They had barely talked since Harry and Ron's first visit and if Hermione was being completely honest, she'd have acknowledged that that was mainly her problem because she was the one who had been actively avoiding Malfoy whenever possible.

"Granger." Think of the devil and he shall appear…or at least, think of the Malfoy and he shall appear. "Do you have a moment?"

Hermione looked up from the textbook that she had been reading to give Malfoy a quick nod.

"Look, I wanted to say sorry."

"It's alright."

"What do you mean 'it's alright'?" He asked almost indignantly. "You haven't even bloody listened to what I wanted to apologise for!"

"Malfoy," She asserted, feeling rather glad that they were in her office instead of the staff room or some other common area. "I mean, it's alright."

Something seemed to change then as Malfoy was many things (she'd give him that) but he wasn't stupid. "Oh for the love of Merlin! The pricks told you, didn't they?" With her nod as the answer, Draco was quick to raise his guard.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about it?" She couldn't stop herself from asking and received a nasty look in response.

"Don't go thinking I'm some sort of saint, Granger. I just did what I had to so that I could live with myself."

"That's bull and you know it Malfoy." She retorted.

"Oh and why do you say that? Did someone slip you the Elixir to Induce Euphoria?"

"No! But guess what Malfoy, looks like you got caught in your own game – you didn't deny that you know the reason you gave me was shit."

"Well pardon me for trying to examine the situation like a true potions master." He practically spat. "Don't think for one second that I'm some sort of hero all of a sudden. I'm just the ex-death eater who sold out his mates."

"That was harsh Malfoy, even for you." She quipped. "Besides, if you just wanted to sell out your friends then you would've loved getting media attention for it and yet barely anyone knows what you and Zabini did."

"Oh right because the Prophet is _completely_ reliable."

"Well maybe if you had let Harry and Ron and anybody else on your god forsaken team speak about it, it _might_ just have been reliable!"

"Might! Wow, that sounds so bloody brilliant, Granger! I let Saint Potter and Saint Weasley speak for me and who knows, _maybe_ it'd help with _whatever I don't want or need help with_! Knowing that Skeeter, I'd probably get thrown into Azkaban anyway for putting the 'Youngest Head Auror at the Ministry of Magic' and 'Auror Ronald Weasley of the famous Golden Trio' under the _imperius_ because we all know I'm capable of casting it anyway!"

"Why are you being so defensive about this Malfoy!?"

"Maybe because somewhere in that messed up head of yours, you think that I've become some sort of do-good fairy! Earth to Granger, I am _not_ a good man! I am _not_ a nice man!"

"Then why is McGonagall okay with you? Why is Neville friends with you? Why are Harry and Ron friends with you?"

"Don't use my own bloody words against me." Draco hissed. "They (like you) must have fallen down a flight of stairs and hit their heads. Hard."

"Oh yes, because any time _anyone_ thinks badly of Malfoy, he either shuts up and takes it or goes out of his way to make them think otherwise YET any time _anyone_ even possibly thinks better of Malfoy, he tries to tear them to shreds!"

"Now that you've got the routine down pat, why don't you just follow the rules and think badly of him then? You sure as hell did that when I first got here!"

"Well I didn't bloody know what I know now, did I!?"

"So why change your opinions based on the words of he-who-keeps-escaping-death!? Base it upon your own judgement!"

"I trust harry with my life! And are you suggesting I can't judge people for myself? I'm not twelve Malfoy!"

"Are you telling me, Granger, that had those two not told you anything, that you think we'd get along?" Both of them had begun to run out of breath by that point but it seemed that Draco was the first to dim his rage.

"I think it isn't as impossible as you think it is. Or rather, I think that we were almost friendly (at least to a level where we could work with one another) before they told me what they told me." She responded after having taken a moment to think about it.

"What, because I threatened to turn your student green for a month?" He asked as sarcastically as possible.

"No Malfoy, because you weren't being the stuck up git I remember so well from my student years."

There was a long pause after that. Perhaps it was the fact that they were closer to 30 than they were to 20 or perhaps it was the fact that they had both been through things both before and after the war…but eventually, the argument came to a standstill.

"I'm darker than you think I am Granger…but I _am_ sorry for 'being the stuck up git'…and for what happened during the war."

"Entirely likely Malfoy…but you're not as damaged as you think…and your apology is accepted." There was yet more silence after that before Hermione spoke again. "Or we can agree to disagree."

"Or we can agree to disagree." Draco repeated.

"Malfoy," She called. "I think this means we're friends of friends."

"Or colleagues. Or acquaintances."

"Or just…friends of friends."

"Well friends of friends or not, I think it's time to return to the dungeons." He remarked, heading towards the door.

"Malfoy," She called out again, receiving an impatient look accompanied with a raised eyebrow. "Friends of friends call each other out on their rubbish and what you tried to feed me tonight? It was utter bollocks."


	7. Chapter 6: Appearances

**Chapter 6: Appearances**

"Look! It's _her_!" A voice whispered.

"Are you sure? Aren't they all imprisoned?" A second asked.

"I swear it's her!" The first responded.

"They _should_ have been imprisoned but _apparently_ _she saved Harry Potter's life_." A third whisper chimed in.

"I wonder how much she had to pay to get that rumour to float." The second voice remarked in a snarky manner and all three of them giggled.

Narcissa Malfoy was (perhaps rather unfortunately) very much familiar with the hushed voices and sneaky glances that seemed to follow her wherever she went – it wasn't a particularly nice thing to have hanging over one's head but then again, they'd been whispering about other things regarding her person and her family decades ago so it was no surprise that they whispered things now. Besides, if one is so very accustomed (as she most definitely was) to being whispered about, one could usually tune those things out. Not to mention, as a former Black and now a Malfoy, she had long since built up the walls to appear as nonchalant as possible with just enough bite to her bark.

"I guess some people just can't let things go, can they Lady Malfoy?" A cheerful old witch asked from behind the counter as Narcissa continued to peruse the jewellery and timepieces on sale with a serene look on her face.

"Oh my _dear_ lady, I find those people to be at least more truthful than the ones who feign friendliness in order to procure the Malfoy funds." She remarked, smiling as she sauntered over to where the three whispers had originated (although now they were trying their best to discuss anything else).

If they had been unnerved by her presence then they certainly did their best to conceal it. "Look at this pocket watch!" One of them said quite loudly, pointing to a slightly embellished, silver piece.

"It's gorgeous!" One of her friends crooned.

"Goblin-made silver my lady, it'll remain spotless forever and as you know, Goblin's silver is indestructible." The plump saleswitch explained, clearly deciding that she'd shift her unwanted attention elsewhere.

"Oh my husband would love it!" The first witch beamed with joy. "How much is it?"

"100 Galleons madam although if you wish to engrave it or add any extra embellishments, I'm afraid there will be a charge associated."

This had once again caused the three witches to break into whispering. "100 Galleons is a lot of money…" The first one said, sounding a little unsure of herself.

"Yes but your husband would love it (especially with Christmas coming up next week), besides, it's Goblin-made – it'll last a lifetime." The second one tried to reassure the first.

"And you could pass it on to your children." The third claimed.

Narcissa took this as her time to strike. She may not have been extremely fond of the piece but by no means was it something so potentially unaffordable that she needed to think twice on the matter. "I'll take it." The blonde spoke plainly, causing the others to go into a stunned silence. "I'd also appreciate it greatly if you could engrave the back with 'My darling Lucius' – how does an extra 20 Galleons sound? For the extra work?"

"You can't do that! She had her eye on that!" One of the three nitwits protested.

"I do apologise, I wasn't aware that merely admiring something was the same as taking out the money and paying for it." Narcissa reached into one of the cleverly sewn pockets on the inside of her navy silk robes, retrieved a pouch and set it on the counter before responding. "Now _dear_ ," She addressed the saleswitch this time. "120 Galleons for the piece."

* * *

"What did you expect her to say?"

"I don't know Blaise, maybe something along the lines of 'Potty, Weasel, you're lying'?"

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. You're just irritated because unlike the 16 year old you expect her to be, this 29 year old Granger actually sat down and analysed the situation."

"Analysed the situation and somehow came up with the daft idea that I'm 'not as damaged' as I seem to think."

"Draco, calling someone out on their bluffs is not daft."

"Thinking that it's a bluff is daft."

"You know, you Malfoys have a strange tendency to try and protect your image."

"So?"

"So, some images are meant to be changed over time. You know, just yesterday, these three old witches entered my shop looking for perfumes and they were complaining about your mother."

"In case you're not aware Blaise, people have been complaining about my mother for as long as I can remember."

"Yes but they were complaining because she purposely put 120 Galleons towards some Goblin-made silver pocket watch _after_ hearing that one of those three witches wanted it for their husband."

"Your point?"

"My point is that you people seem to want to go out of your way to remain in people's bad books! It's like you get a kick out of the world thinking that you're all evil or something because I'm fairly sure _nobody_ except for those fortunate enough to be family and friends know just how many causes your mother has donated to or how many trinkets she's sent those who she'd deemed 'acceptable' (meaning, those in need of help)."

"Well if people are going to think whatever they want to think anyway Blaise, what's the big deal in playing by the rules?"

"Because you sorry, dim-witted wizard, the truth paints a far different picture."

"Ah but fiction is oh so much more comforting than the strange truth."

"Because you're unwilling to let the truth come out and be comforting you ninny! Honestly, would it be _so_ bad to accept what Granger herself wondered and get Potter and Weasel to set some records straight?"

"Yes Blaise, it would. That may be what you did but no thank you, I don't need it. The Malfoys don't need it."

* * *

As it turned out, the story involving Narcissa Malfoy did go public after all. The Prophet had placed it on page 2 with the title 'Christmas Gift Snatched by Cruel Malfoy Mistress'. In the article, the plight of the woman scorned by Narcissa had been told with it being emphasised quite clearly that 'heartless Narcissa swooped when the other buyer was discussing the watch with friends'. Of course, that had been nothing compared to the front page. There (in the largest font possible), was the headline 'Are the Malfoys Trying to Ruin Christmas?' coupled with the front page article titled 'Known 'Ex'-Death Eater Teaching at Hogwarts'.

 _Wizards and witches of all divisions should be horrified! Little is known of one Draco Malfoy after his family's very public fall from grace at the end of the 2nd wizarding war but one thing is known for certain – this young wizard is by no means safe for the community. Having all but disappeared after finishing his Alchemy program at the prestigious Centre for Alchemical Studies in Egypt 7 years ago, many of us were left to wonder just what the dangerous, marked man was up to (figure 1: image of the Malfoy heir where the scar on his left arm can be seen clearly indicating his part in the horrors associated with Voldemort).It has come to our attention that this disturbed individual has recently been offered a position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry not only as a Potions Master but also as the leader of Slytherin._

 _Do we have another Voldemort on our hands? Who allowed such an atrocity to happen? Did Minerva McGonagall purposefully let a law-evading criminal into her establishment? Are our children really safe in Hogwarts?_

 _We at the Prophet have reached out to Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic in order to investigate this story. Both parties have declined to comment – could this mean they are allowing our young ones to be endangered? The answers are unclear but we fear the worst. Please continue reading this special Christmas Eve edition of the Prophet to find out just what other awful acts the Malfoys have performed and please, share your concern with the Ministry and with Hogwarts – they have a responsibility to all of us._

* * *

"Harry, have you read the papers yet?"

"Not yet Gin, have they written something stupid again?"

"Of course they have…only, I think you'll want to see this."

"Oh Merlin…"

* * *

"I don't understand Minerva, whoever's given the information out must have had months to just sit on the story."

"That may be the case Hermione, or it might be a case of the Prophet (or rather, that unsavoury Skeeter woman) themselves sitting on the information so that they can get as much controversy out of it as possible."

"And what better way to generate controversy and guarantee reads than to print it out on Christmas Eve…"

* * *

"I don't understand why you don't just go and tell the papers what's really been going on Ron!"

"I told you Lav! He keeps insisting that he doesn't want it that way!"

"So you think he wants it this way instead!? Look at it!"

"I have looked at it!"

"Well then do something about it!"

* * *

"Lucius, I haven't seen you laughing so hard in years."

"Look at these articles Cissy – they're so horrid that I can't help but laugh. Oh what will I do now that my _heartless_ wife has given me a specially-engraved pocket watch that she practically stole from another woman? What will I do now that all these parents and children are threatened by the mere existence of my son?"

"There'll be owls you know."

"There are always owls."

* * *

"See? This is exactly what I was talking about!"

"So what Blaise? Potter and Kingsley know how to handle the ministry side and McGonagall can handle the school side of things. My family and I however, will go on as we always have – lavish, arrogant and absolutely unapologetic."


	8. Author's Note

Sorry for the delay all, I've been busy with other things in life and so have been writing at a slower pace. Please also note that I have been posting this story to Hawthorne and Vine and so that process is also causing a few delays as ideally, I'd like to have the two updated to the same point. On a positive note, I recently got in touch with a beta reader (as reflected in the summary section of the story) called Freebuckbeak so I look forward on collaborating with her in order to produce more polished chapters in future. Thanks for all of your reviews thus far, I know this isn't a chapter (don't worry, there is one waiting in the wings - just need to get a few things sorted) but I figured that an update should help explain the absence and reiterate that this is not a story which will be abandoned (although I will be taking the time to write it at a pace fitting me whether that means uploading multiple times a month or once every couple of weeks/months).

Regards,

Bitter Macarons


	9. Chapter 7: Onwards

**Chapter 7: Onwards**

It was quite likely that Christmas had become rather a bleak event for many wizarding families across Britain, but the Malfoys behaved just as predicted - uncaring. On Christmas day, the entire family had dressed to the nines and paraded themselves down Diagon Alley to reach an impossibly expensive, difficult to book restaurant for dinner. The headlines the next day had called for people to distance themselves from the ethically questionable establishment. In the days leading up to New Year's Eve, Lucius and Narcissa had decided to frequent various stores in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, resulting in several more articles discussing just what they were purchasing and why the stores they were purchasing from were no longer reputable. By the time New Year's day had come around, Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt had received so many owls (with some of the more enthusiastic followers of the Prophet sending multiple letters and/or Howlers per day) that they had decided (after meeting and discussing the problem) to issue an official statement.

 _Dearest Prophet Readers,_

 _We broke our story to you on Christmas Eve in the hopes that we as a Wizarding community could put forth changes to those in powerful positions. Unfortunately, it seems even after several days of questioning shopkeepers, restaurateurs, the education providers and even the Ministry, we have yielded no favourable outcomes. We understand that those who own businesses may be too scared of the Malfoy family, or may be partial to their funding, however we expected better from Hogwarts and from our own Ministry. Please read below for the statement the two parties have jointly issued._

 _'One Draco Malfoy and his family were cleared of all charges put towards them following the Second Wizarding War. Lucius in particular was especially helpful in the years following the war and we should be reminded that Narcissa had saved Harry Potter. We as a Ministry, and those at Hogwarts, have not forgotten about the war and we have most certainly not forgotten about those affected by it. However, we also acknowledge that it is unhealthy to not move forward. As such, we respect that Draco Malfoy was the most suitable candidate in regards to the teaching position and we believe that he should be given an opportunity to prove it. '_

 _Could it be that those in power have already been poisoned by the Malfoys? We at the Prophet are unsure, but one thing can be concluded, they are making a very regrettable mistake. To those thinking of removing their children from school, please hire a private tutor so that their education is not lost due to the addition of such a dangerous member of society. To those thinking of sending their children back to Hogwarts on the 5th of January, we urge you to reconsider._

* * *

Shortly after the official statement was released, Harry, Ron, Neville, Blaise and Draco gathered at one of the London townhouses owned by the Zabinis. Whilst Harry and Ron had spent Christmas more or less together, alongside the Weasley clan, they hadn't seen much of their friends over the past few months. The same could be said for Draco and Blaise or for Draco and Neville. As such, their current drinking session in the well-lit, ornately decorated dining room was rather necessary.

"Trust you Malfoys to be as ostentatious as possible when people start attacking." Ron remarked before taking a drink of the firewhisky he was holding.

"Well that's disappointing, Weasley. I always thought we were naturally ostentatious," Draco retorted, taking a swig of his shortly after.

"You _are_ naturally ostentatious." Blaise chimed in happily.

"Sod off, Blaise." Draco shot back just as quickly.

"Andromeda and Teddy spent Christmas with us," Harry spoke after some time. "He'll be eleven next year."

"Let me guess, she wants to send him to Beauxbatons?"

"Actually, she didn't really get the chance to say anything," Ron answered Draco's question for Harry. "Everyone else was too busy arguing for and against sending him to Hogwarts."

"You mean to tell me Weasleys argued over me?" Draco joked.

"Don't be such a prick, Malfoy. Of course we didn't. We were arguing over Minerva and Kingsley's decisions." Ron replied quickly, his face beginning to flush.

"Still sounds like you were arguing over me," Draco remarked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"For the most part actually, we stayed quiet." Harry interjected, causing Draco to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean 'for the most part'?"

"Well, we stayed pretty quiet until we were asked." Harry responded to the question simply.

"You should've seen the looks that Percy and George gave us - it was like Harry, Hermione and I grew extra heads or something." Ron explained further.

"What did you two say?"

"Stop worrying, Malfoy, we just said that we trusted Minerva," Ron was the first to answer again. "Lav almost broke my ears with her shouting when we got home, though. Said that I should've said something about what really went on."

Draco couldn't help but snicker at that and what Harry said next didn't help matters at all. "Ginny was pretty mad too. She thinks that we should've at least told the family."

"Dream on, Potter, maybe in another 20 years," Draco suggested after he stopped taking pleasure in Harry and Ron's misfortunes.

"No, I absolutely refuse. I won't have you three arguing like an old married couple at our long-awaited drinks night." Blaise interrupted before the back and forth between Harry, Ron and Draco could really begin. "Neville, what's been going on with you lately?"

* * *

As it happened, many parents did reconsider sending their children back to Hogwarts, resulting in the withdrawal of a few students. None of the staff were particularly happy about it, but there was also no real remedy to the problem. Draco expected some of the professors who disliked him to suggest that he quit or that McGonagall fire him but surprisingly, they stayed silent on the matter.

"Bloody hell Malfoy, you'd think that we'd be given a reprieve from seeing your face so often." Neville had jokingly commented one day during their lunch break in the staff room.

"Don't pretend that you don't get the Prophet sent to you just to see my beautiful face, Longbottom."

"You're such a conceited git, you know that?"

"See, that's where I think you're wrong. I think you meant to say that I'm the most wonderful conceited git you know."

"Fine. You're the biggest conceited git I know. Now to quote you, some of us still have classes to teach."

"What, Granger, not going to say anything?" Draco turned to the other professor once Neville left the room.

"There wasn't any need," She replied simply, with the corners of her mouth curling up ever so slightly. "Actually, I do suppose I should take that back. As a friend of a friend, I'm obliged to call you out on your bull, so no, you're not the most wonderful, conceited git anybody could ever have the pleasure of knowing. You're just a git."

Draco raised an eyebrow to that. "Just a git? Why, Granger, I'm mortally wounded. That was so insulting that I don't think my poor soul could bear it - I mean, how could I be _just_ a git? I'm clearly the best there is so if anything, I should be git royalty. Are you sure you're not just jealous because the Prophet isn't running as many stories of your love life?"

"Trust you to be dramatic _and_ to suggest you're king," Hermione answered, scrunching her face in displeasure. "Oh and yes, I'm quite sure that I'm not jealous that your name is publicised more often."

"Well I never suggested where I was on the royal hierarchy but I think that I'll take that suggestion of yours, Granger - why not be a king?"

* * *

With the passing of the months, the Malfoy name was mentioned less frequently. Perhaps Lucius had finally decided to throw around some of his hidden influence or perhaps the name just wasn't generating as much profit as the newspaper would have liked. Whatever the reason, Draco was glad. Quite unfortunately, it meant that content was slowly beginning to revert to Golden Trio gossip.

"This is exhausting." Hermione remarked sarcastically in the staff room during lunch a few days after a Valentine's edition of the Daily Prophet was published. "I mean, how can I possibly get any work done if I'm constantly trying to steal the hearts of the world's Quidditch players?"

" _The_ Hermione Granger? Unable to multi-task?" Draco couldn't help but respond, causing Neville to cover his laughter with coughs.

"Very funny Malfoy, but you're not the one receiving Howlers from crazy fans demanding you stop going after a certain Chaser or Keeper," she retorted with a more annoyed tone.

"Don't open the letters then," came the simple response accompanied with a mere shrug of the shoulders. "Why bother if they're just going to be of the same stupid thing?"

"Well what if an important letter comes through from someone I've never heard from before? Or someone I hadn't heard of in a long time? It wouldn't make sense to throw out all the letters just to spare myself a few Howlers."

"Sounds to me like you're just developing some hoarding tendencies, Granger - better get that sorted or your office will be so stuffed that we'll have to wonder if you've taken everything in Hogwarts and moved it there instead."

"There's nothing wrong with being thorough, Malfoy," she quipped, readying herself to leave the room to head to class. "Besides, I'm obliged, as a friend of a friend, to tell you that we as professors should be accomplished in the art of applying shrinking charms to certain objects."

* * *

"They're complaining about homework again." Hermione stated with a frown as she sat down in the staff room, which had become somewhat of a gathering place for her, Neville and Malfoy over time.

"They're students, what do you expect them to do? Jump for joy?" Draco asked, a smirk plastered firmly on his face as he took a bite of his apple.

"They're students; they should be expected to do homework."

"No student likes homework," he exclaimed before holding a hand up so that she didn't interrupt. "Before you call bull on me Granger, let me amend that - no student aside from you likes homework."

"That's still bull, Malfoy. I know for a fact that Percy Weasley was as much a fan of it as I was," she responded smugly, giving him a smirk of her own.

"He probably didn't have professors who tried to get their students to go on some deranged version of a treasure hunt just to complete an essay."

"For your information, it isn't deranged - it's meant to be fun!"

"Granger, I'm fairly certain that only you and possibly Madam Pince might think that's fun. It's a wonder your students haven't set up some copying system yet."

"Don't be silly, Malfoy, copying homework doesn't help the individual at all...and it's against the rules."

"Trust you to think of the rules, Granger."

* * *

Shortly after Valentine's Day, Hermione was able to visit Ginny and her children at Grimmauld Place. Over the years, Ginny had steadily worked on redecorating the home and the result of that was a significant increase in brightness in each of the rooms, courtesy of off-white walls and colourful drapery, although some of the original furniture had been removed. Of course, Harry helped as much as he could, but on some of the lengthier missions, it just wasn't possible. Hermione would have offered to help more often but as it were, only some of those missions occurred during the school holidays.

"How are you and Harry coping with Lily's teething?" Hermione asked as she and Ginny sat down on the well-loved leather sofa in the family room with a mug of cocoa each.

"Not badly I suppose, it does get easier with the third child," Ginny responded with a yawn. "She's got puffy gums and has been quite fussy at night (so don't be surprised if I run off when her screams beckon) but other than that, it hasn't been too bad. She's also been eating more solids, which I suppose is different given both her brothers wanted nothing more than to be fed from their bottles."

"Have you tried giving her a wet washcloth when she fusses?" Hermione asked before taking a sip of her drink.

"We did but she didn't seem like much of a fan." There was another yawn before Ginny spoke again. "Enough of the baby talk, Hermione, tell me how you're doing at Hogwarts? Is working with the Ferret King unbearable?"

Hermione couldn't help but snicker before putting on her best serious voice. "Ginerva Potter, I shall have you know that the Ferret King is merely a ferret and...I suppose he isn't horrible to work with."

"Sounds just like how Harry described his first year working with Ferret."

"It hasn't been a year."

"Doesn't matter. I just expect _you_ to tell me when you start becoming friends with him instead of hiding it from me for seven years."

"Ginny, you know that he did that for a good reason." Hermione responded, shooting Ginny a look to which the redhead merely rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I know. I'm just saying, 'Mione, that if you become friends with him, you have to tell me about it."

"I doubt we'll become friends, Ginny, but we _have_ become friends of friends."

"Which means what?"

"It means that I get to call him out on his tendency to sprout untruths."

"Right. So what it really means is that you've found a way to justifiably nag him without being his friend or having it look bad."

This time, it was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes. "I don't nag him. I just correct him."

"You mean like 'It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long.'" Ginny mocked, resulting in Hermione picking up one of the cushions she had been resting on and flinging it at her friend, who had luckily finished all of her cocoa earlier in the conversation.


	10. Chapter 8: Family, Friends and Truths

Chapter 8: Family, Friends and Truths 

The year wasn't progressing terribly well for Ronald Weasley. Sure, it hadn't started too badly, considering he and Lavender were still together but almost as if the _Prophet_ had predicted it, they were broken up again and this time, they had both acknowledged it was final. Sure, there were arguments about household chores and about work but the main issue seemed to revolve around trust and the whole Malfoy situation seemed to highlight it. On the one hand, the couple knew that Ron was unable to say anything whilst he was under the Vow but on the other hand, he had hid information from her for seven years and despite her best efforts, he was still hiding the information from his family. During one of their fights, the young woman had screeched at him for ten minutes, telling him that he needed to tell his family and he had screeched back for the following ten saying that she didn't understand, and neither would his family. He had then spent a further five minutes arguing that Ginny knew and she wasn't saying anything although deep down, even he knew that Ginny wasn't saying anything because it wasn't her story to tell.

Not long after the split, which thankfully, was after Valentine's day, it had come time to plan his birthday and given all the fighting and the trouble, Ron was finally starting to come around on the idea of telling his family what had really been going on. If it had been Easter, he might have waited a while longer but Easter had yet to come and there really was no better occasion, especially if his family were to get angry afterwards.

* * *

"Ronald Bilius Weasley, could you please repeat what you just told us?" For a woman who was accustomed to noise and chatter, Molly Weasley was rather quiet when she asked that question. The matriarch wasn't the only silent person at the dinner table, either, for it seemed like everyone present had gone into some sort of stunned silence.

In the morning, the entire Weasley clan, along with some of Ron's closest friends, had descended upon the burrow in celebration of Ron's birthday. It wasn't an extravagant affair but it was a noisy, bustling one. In fact, it was so busy that it was really a wonder that the patchwork house could fit everyone in comfortably – especially given many of the guests had brought their children along as well. The downside of that had been that lunch was had in various locations all over the house, as there was not sufficient space in the kitchen alone, and barely enough space in the living room. Still, the meal was eaten and the cake had been cut. Afterwards, Ron's friends began to trickle out with Luna and Blaise the first to leave followed by Neville, Hannah and a few others. Come dinner time, there still wasn't sufficient space in the kitchen for the entire Weasley clan and Hermione but that in itself wasn't too much of an issue as they decided to eat outside where they could see the stars from near the pond.

"I've got something to say." Just like that, he had gotten the attention of the entire family because it was a known fact that Ron loved food and it was also a known fact that steak and kidney pies were something which he very much fancied. "Harry and I worked with Malfoy for seven years."

That had of course, spurred Molly's question and after a lengthy pause, the woman felt compelled to ask again. "Ronald, I believe I asked you a question?"

"Oh. Right." It was as if Ron hadn't thought of any sort of follow-up to the information he had just unloaded. "Harry and I worked with Malfoy for seven years."

At that point, Harry had the decency to look somewhat ashamed of the fact that he had hid it, but both Ginny and Hermione looked like they were silently fuming. Unfortunately for Ron, Molly had turned from silently fuming to very loudly fuming. "I believe I heard _that_. Please, for the sake of your poor, clueless family, explain to us why you've withheld this information and why you're so _kindly_ sharing with us now?"

"Mummy, is Malfoy one of the people who stole Christmas?" Victoire piped up, drawing gasps from the adults who had momentarily forgotten the children's presence.

"'ush, Victoire." Fleur reprimanded before getting out of her seat and ushering the children inside the house.

"As you were saying, son?" Arthur asked once the children left.

"What?" Ron asked absent-mindedly before his memory came back to him. "See dad, Malfoy...or rather, Draco, was part of our team...to find and capture all the remaining Death Eaters...We couldn't tell you, couldn't tell anyone really, until it was done…"

"When was it done?" Charlie asked.

"Last year..." Ron replied sheepishly.

Another round of silence enveloped the table as the Weasleys processed what had been said. Finally, it was George who spoke up.

"A year?" He asked, not quite sure whether or not to make a joke out of the situation just yet. "You're telling me the two of you have been keeping that for a whole year on top of the first seven?" At that point, Harry nodded. "Blimey, here we were all thinking that Percy was the one to watch out for, look how wrong we were."

"Let them explain, George!" Ginny's temper flared up, causing the rest of the family to direct their attentions towards her.

"You mean you knew about this as well? For how long?" Bill asked this time, although he did it as calmly and quietly as he could.

"For about a year. Trust me, I was mad too...at first...but the more I thought about it, the more I understood why they did it. Just listen to the explanation."

Another period of silence passed before George spoke again. "Well, go on then."

* * *

By the time five o'clock came, Draco had just finished teaching his last class of the day and was more than looking forward to taking a well-deserved break in his office. Having taught for nearly a year, Draco now had more respect towards his departed godfather for not docking more house points than he did. Once the students that were left had subdued their outright hatred of him, although he still received interesting side notes from some of the more brazen students when reading through the essays, they behaved, well, like children - there was constant chatter, irresponsible 'witches' and 'wizards' who had no clue what they were doing or had no care to find out and note passers. Thank Merlin that he had managed to dock enough house points that the blasted peckish ones stopped bringing 'stealthily hidden' snacks and drinks to class.

" _Stupefy_!-"

" _Protego_!-"

No sooner had he entered his _locked_ office, Draco had come across a figure standing in the middle of the room and with the years' worth of Auror training and instinct, he couldn't give a damn if the person before him was a seventh year trying to pull a prank because said person was not leaving the room unscathed. At least, that was what he thought until the person turned around and blocked his spell.

"Weasley?" Draco asked an irritated Ron as they both lowered their wands. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing waiting inside someone's _locked_ office?"

"Well clearly, Malfoy, I wasn't expecting an attack. Didn't want you thinking that someone broke into your office so I thought I might be nice and lock it after I got in."

"Are you daft? Who in their right mind would think it's a bloody good idea to sneak into someone's office instead of waiting outside? Who in their right mind sneaks in then locks the door?"

"I didn't want you bloody pissing your pants, _Draco_. Besides, last time I swung by your office, you slammed the door in my face for fun then threatened to turn me purple."

"Malfoys do not bloody well piss in their pants, _Ron_. As for my swinging the door in your face, I believe you deserved that for not stopping your precious Lavender from sending owl after owl, telling me that I needed to speak up for myself because her boyfriend refused to let her do so."

"You know her; she can get ideas stuck in her head sometimes." Ron responded irritably as he and Draco sat down near the fireplace. "You don't have to worry about the owls anymore though...we've broken up."

For a moment, the blonde was silent. "Oh. Sorry about that."

"Yeah, I am too." Ron replied solemnly. "We called it quits not too long after that stupid _Prophet_ article came out." A short pause ensued as both men simply sat and stared at their hands whilst waiting for the real topic of conversation to present itself. "Look, Draco, we told the family last Sunday."

Draco couldn't exactly place how he felt after being handed that information so he put on a face of schooled indifference. Of course, he wasn't pleased that tales of his _deeds_ were being spread around and of course, he wasn't keen on the rest of the Wizarding world finding out, but it wasn't as if he was expecting the members of the team to keep things from their families. He himself wasn't particularly close with Lucius in terms of their world views and the reasoning behind their actions in helping the Ministry but nevertheless, Lucius and Narcissa had known what he did as soon as he was able to tell them. In a sense, perhaps then Draco was just a tad confused and angry on behalf of the Weasleys, not that he would ever tell anybody that, due to the fact that Ron and Harry had waited so long. Then there was the annoyance of it all - of Ron sneaking into his office just to tell him what had happened almost a week prior, when the recipients of the news learnt it almost a year after they were allowed.

"Get out." Draco ordered, standing up from his seat as a bewildered Ron tried to protest.

"Come on mate! I've come and told you this time - I even came by myself instead of with Harry and Hermione because I was the one who decided to tell my family." Ron stood as well but made no movement towards the door.

"Don't care." Came the short reply, devoid of any discernible tone.

"Would it help if I told you that my family was pretty mad at Harry and me for keeping the secrets for so long?" Ron offered, to no avail. "Mum nearly blew us to bits!"

"That's a shame; she should've made more of an effort."

"Come on, Draco, I'm sorry that more people keep finding out but this is my _family_ we're talking about." Ron tried once more.

"Out. Now." The blonde remarked flatly, gesturing towards the door.

* * *

"He _is_ sorry, Malfoy." Hermione had spoken up once she finished her slice of cauldron cake, causing Draco to look up from the Phillipus von Hohenheim card he had started reading after eating his Chocolate Frog. Neville had been on lunchtime rounds the entire week so although they had gathered and eaten without him, they had done so in silence...until that Wednesday.

"Did you know Phillipus von Hohenheim was credited with the discovery of Parseltongue, Granger?" He asked, instead of answering her question.

"I believe I was referring to the wizard who has been trying to get in proper contact with you for almost two weeks," She quipped although she answered his question nonetheless. "Oh and yes, I did. Did you know that he was also known as Paracelsus?"

"Naturally," Draco answered. "Perhaps if he were truly sorry, he'd make more of an effort to tell me that in person instead of asking his best friend to do it." With a smirk on his face, he mimicked her. "Oh and yes, I did. Did you know that he was an alchemist as well as a medic?"

"Well perhaps if said person stopped hexing him and suggesting he try weird concoctions, he'd make more of an effort." She replied, crossing her arms and silently cursing the fact that Malfoy always had some sort of uncanny knack of getting under her skin. "Don't mock me, Malfoy. Did you know that he was born in Switzerland?"

"Makes it all the more fun, don't you think? Find out if he _is_ as sorry as he says?" He answered, quite pleased that she was beginning to get more agitated. "Mock you? Why would I mock you, Granger? Oh and I believe you mean that he was born in Switzerland _in_ 1493."

"He _is_ sorry, Malfoy." She asserted once more. "Please, why wouldn't you mock me? It must be your favourite pastime. Oh and he died in 1541."

"Well if he _is_ sorry, why won't he try any of my suggestions?" Draco countered, this time not bothering to provide another fact about Paracelsus. "Surely, we both know that I have better pastimes than to mock you?"

"Just because he's sorry, doesn't mean he's stupid." She answered, mirroring his smirk. "Not sure if we do both know that, Malfoy. Oh and by the way, since you've run out of information, there _was_ a bust of Phillipus but rumour has it that Peeves dropped it on someone in our fifth year."

With a scoff from Draco for a reply, the conversation withered away to silence once more until Hermione spoke up just as Draco was about to leave the staff room and attend to his next class.

"You're not _really_ mad, are you?" She asked curiously with a raised eyebrow, as if she already knew the answer.

"No," He responded after a moment of hesitation. "At least, not as mad as he thinks and not just for the reason he thinks."

She smiled at the answer. "Of course not. I suppose, being the Slytherin that you are, you won't be telling him that any time soon?"

"No," He answered again. "And despite the fact that you're a goody-two-shoes Gryffindor, I expect you won't be telling him either."

"We'll see." Hermione answered vaguely, causing Draco to roll his eyes and resume leaving the room. "Oh and by the way, sometimes, Malfoy, you can bear similarities to George Weasley."


End file.
